Young Wide Receivers Have Chance to Catch the Eye of Coaches

Young Wide Receivers Have Chance to Catch the Eye of Coaches

With Jordy Nelson recovering from knee surgery and Randall Cobb limited in practice, young WR's have the chance to catch the eye of coaches

If you're a wide receiver for the
Packers, and you're itching for playing time, this could be your chance to
catch a break.

Jordy Nelson is out for the rest of
the preseason following knee surgery, and Randall Cobb's reps are being limited
because of a banged up bicep.

"It's open right now and
everyone's fighting for it," rookie WR Myles White said about the competition
among the group."Every day that you can
put together that is a good one, is a plus in your book."

White and other rookie free agents
like Tyrone Walker and Omarious Hines have all had high points at camp, but
it's the holdovers from last year, Jarrett Boykin and Jeremy Ross who are the
best bets to rise through the ranks...

"Really understanding the game
and starting to make the offense their own," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said of
the pair."That's important especially
at the wide receiver position.Those
guys are both very talented.Jeremy
offers a lot of things to our team.He
can return kicks obviously; he can play inside and outside.Jarrett is a big strong guy who's had some success
on the outside, especially this camp. I think
over the last week I think you've really seen him step up as I've think he's
felt the pressure of the competition."

According to Pro Football Focus the
Packers lined up in formations featuring 3 or more wide receivers 68% of the
time in 2012. If they intend to do that
again this year with the injuries they've had recently, it's going to be up to
the young guys to catch the eye of coaches as the preseason approaches.

"I feel a lot more relaxed out
there, a lot more comfortable," said WR Jeremy Ross. "Less thinking, more playing.My ability is able to take over.It's not thinking things and then react, more
so just go out there and do my thing."

Mike McCarthy is a fan of all the
young receivers.

"Our young receivers group is a bunch
of good football players," McCarthy said Wednesday."They're getting a lot of reps.Are they the biggest guys, fastest guys
things like that?I've been impressed
with every one of them."

But the fact remains, only Boykin has
caught a regular season pass among them, and he has his thoughts on what it
will take to break through.

"At the end of the day, it comes
down to how bad do you love the game and what do you want to do to make sure you
stay in there," Boykin said."I'm pretty
sure every guy wants to play so every opportunity we get including myself, we
want to take full advantage of it."